hurdle

Racers approaching hurdles

Hurdling is a type of track and field race.

Distances

There are sprint hurdle races and long hurdle races. The standard sprint hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for both men and women. Each of these races is run over ten hurdles and they are all Olympic events.

Other distances are sometimes run, particularly indoors. The sprint hurdle race indoors is usually 60 meters for both men and women, although races 55 meters or 50 meters long are sometimes ran. A 60 meter indoor race is ran over 5 hurdles. A shorter race may have only 4 hurdles. The long hurdle race is sometimes shortened to 300 meters or 200 meters, usually for high school races.

There are two basic hurdle heights: high hurdles and intermediate hurdles. The sprint hurdle races (60 m, 100 m and 110 m) use high hurdles, which are 42 inches for men and 33 inches (.84 m) high for women. Long hurdle races (400 m) use intermediate hurdles, which are 36 inches (.914 m) high for men and 30 inches (.762 m) high for women. Slightly lower heights (generally 3 inches (76 mm) lower) are sometimes used in youth or high school events.

In sprint hurdle races for men, regardless of the length of the race, the first hurdle is 13.72 m from the starting line and the distance between hurdles is 9.14 m. This is different for various age groups. In sprint hurdle races for women, the first hurdle is 13 m from the starting line and the distance between hurdles is 8.5 m. In long hurdle events, whether for men or women, the first hurdle is 45 m from the starting line and the distance between hurdles is 35 m. Any race which is shorter than the standard distance is simply run over fewer hurdles. Hurdles for other age categories and distances are placed upon various colored lines marked on the track.

Technique

Hurdles lined up for the Bislett Games, an ÅF Golden League meet.

There is a technique that is desirable to accomplish efficient hurdling action during a race. Many runners rely mainly on raw speed, but proper technique and well-planned steps leading up to and between each hurdle can allow an efficient hurdler to outrun faster opponents.

When approaching the first hurdle, athletes try to avoid Stutter stepping (a term used to refer to the cutting of stride length before reaching a hurdle). This cuts the runner's momentum and costs valuable time. Athletes attack the hurdle by launching at it from 6-7 feet away (depending on runner's closing speed). the lead leg extended yet slightly bent (because a straight leg leads to more time over the hurdle) so that the heel just narrowly clears the barrier's height. After launching, the trail leg is tucked in horizontally and flat, close to the side of the hip. The objective is to minimize center-of-gravity deviation from normal sprinting and reduce time spent flying through the air.

In order to hurdle properly and not simply jump over it, a runner must adjust his or her hips to raise them over the hurdles. Upon crossing over the hurdle barrier, the runner's lead leg snaps down quickly landing roughly 3-feet (1m) beyond the hurdle. The trail leg drives forward at the knee (not swinging, as swinging causes the trunk to straighten up), and pulls through to maintain stride length.

In men's hurdles it is usually necessary to straighten the leg at the top of the flight path over the hurdle, although a partial bend in the knee gains a faster push off when the ahtlete hits the ground. The ability to do this depends on the runners's leg length. As soon as the foot has cleared the hurdle, the knee starts bending again to lessen the effect of a long, slow pendulum. In women's hurdles, the lead leg is usually straight and the center of gravity does not rise relative to a normal running stride. Another way to view it is the foot path: "shortest path up and shortest path down". The opposite arm reaches farther forward and the elbow travels out to the side and then behind to make room for the trailing leg. The trailing leg also leads with the knee, but the foot and knee is horizontal, tucked up as tight as possible into the armpit.

As soon as the lead leg begins its descent, a strong downward push is exerted to enable the trailing leg's knee to come up under the armpit and in front of the chest. This enables recovery of some of the energy expended in the flight.

A modern hurdle will fall over if a runner hits it. Contrary to a common misconception, there is no penalty for hitting a hurdle (provided this is not judged deliberate), although it slows down the rhythm of the hurdler. However, pushing the hurdle with one's hands or running out of one's lane as a result of hitting the hurdle is cause for disqualification. While hitting hurdles is not generally considered desirable, a few sprint hurdlers have succeeded despite knocking over many hurdles. Contact with hurdles can decrease speed and also result in disruption of a hurdler's technique.

Variants

There are also shuttle hurdle relay races, although they are rarely run. They are usually only found at track meets that consist entirely of relay races. In a shuttle hurdle relay, each of four hurdlers on a team runs the opposite direction from the preceding runner. The standard races correspond to the standard sprint hurdle races: 4 × 110 m for men and 4 × 100 m for women.

References

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